Do you have any other suggestions for books on NPB (unfortunately, in english, because my Japanese isn't quite up to par)? I've read Cromartie-san's Slugging It Out in Japan, as well as Whiting-san's Crysanthemum and the Bat and Ya Gotta Have Wa (which apparently, since Ichiro's success in MLB, has gone into reprint).

Incidently, I've heard that Whiting is now in the process of writing a sequel to You Gotta Have Wa. It has been some 10 or so years since it came out. It's the book I always recommend to people who want to know abou Pro Yakyu, but always with the caveat "It's a bit dated."

The title pretty much tells it all. The book covers the players who have been inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame and/or are members of the Meikyukai, a "club" of players who have reached certain plateaus in batting and pitching. Reading about many of these past players is fascinating. There is also a short write up on a number of other superstars that have been omitted for one reason or another (like the 15 year wait after leaving Pro Yakyu) from the Hall of Fame.

Each player has a short write up on him and his contributions to Pro Yakyu. Instead of a photo of each player, there is a baseball card of him, along with information of more cards. (I'm not a collector myself, but it should help those who are interested.) There is also a short table of each player's career totals at the end of each page.

Both dead tree (paper) and CD-ROM (Acrobat format) are available. I've got the CD-ROM version on my computer for quick reference, should I need to look up something on a star of the past. It's especially useful to put a face and some Romaji (the Western alphabet) to the Kanji of names I see referred to in many of Chiba-san's articles (Shukan Baseball).

The Brian Maitland book "Japanese Baseball A Fan's Guide" which I mentioned elsewhere is available online from its publisher at www.tuttlepublishing.com for U.S. $12.95. I don't know if this includes shipping. The book was published almost 11 years ago and is therefore quite out of date. It contains discussions of history, strategy, fans, stadia, records, American players, MLB tours, Japlish baseball terms, methods of purchasing game tickets and Japanese press and broadcast outlets.

This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball),
not about who the next player to go over to MLB is.
It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have
come together
to share their knowledge and opinions with the world.
It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing
baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese
(and Asian)
culture through baseball.

It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about
what we're about here that you will join the community of
contributors.